


Tony Stark Character Study

by thedevil_andgod



Series: Tumblr Prompts [6]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Tumblr Prompts, prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-04
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-20 02:25:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7386907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevil_andgod/pseuds/thedevil_andgod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four different ways to describe Tony Stark.<br/>--</p><p>REQUESTED: yes<br/>By: fangirly-me. </p><p>REQUESTS OPEN FOR DRABBLES!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tony Stark Character Study

**Author's Note:**

> Trying to get back into my writing rhythm, so if anyone wants something else like this give me another character and a four/five words you'd use to describe them and I'll attempt something. Not my best work but I've been not too good mental-health wise recently, and I'm just trying to get myself back into the swing of things. Hope you enjoy, and requests for other drabbles are open at my tumblr - jxmpintheflames.tumblr.com

_**Pepper** _

Tony has not seen a lot of love in his life. From his mother, yes; there were cuddles when he was upset and soothing lullabies when he couldn’t sleep at night. His father was different; cold and distant, more interested in searching for his ‘best creation’; the Super Soldier Steve Rogers lost in the depths of an unforgiving ocean. The loss of this made his father just as unforgiving as those freezing waves, and no matter how hard he tried it seemed his efforts were never good enough. Then he went to war, and there’s no love in a place brutalised by gunshots and bombs and dead civilians, too many casualties to count. In the middle of all that, there was Pepper; and she saw him for all that he really was, the good and the bad and the brilliant and the downright awful - and she loved him anyway. Through thick and thin she was there, holding his hand, supporting him better than his own spine, encouraging and pushing him towards his full potential. Tony is not good with people; with caring for people, showing affection. He messes up a lot, but he tries, and he tries damn hard. Pepper seems to be the only person in the universe who appreciates this, and so he needs her- she is the one thing in his life worth fighting for.

\--

_**Guilt** _

Whiskey doesn’t make things any better, but as long as he keeps his mouth shut and stays away from gen-pop while he drinks it, Tony’s figured that it doesn’t make things any worse, either. He doesn’t understand how everything he does backfires, every plan he makes falling apart at the seams when it all looked so good on paper. Sure, he can put on the suit and the smug smiles and spit witty banter like he’d never run out of it in front of the people, in front of reporters and interviewers and even the rest of team. But here, in his lab, locked away and alone, the only company he has is the guilt. It never goes away, never lets him sleep, never lets up at all for even a second. It eats away at him inside and he’s beginning to think that soon there will be nothing left at all; that it will leave him as empty as the suit hanging on the wall, ready for action. He has done bad things, and yes, he has done good things too, but in his mind, the bad will always, always, outweigh the good. There is blood on his hands and lives on his resume, and though Pepper may forgive him, though the others on the team will say it’s all part of the job, and forgive him too, the one person he will never convince to forgive him.. is himself.

\--

_**~~Hero-Who-Needs-To-Save-The-World- Or-Else~~ - Accountability ** _

At the start, Iron Man was a way to get his name out into the world, even more so than it already was what with Stark Industries and being the son of the living legend, Howard Stark. It was a way of becoming important, being loved. If he didn’t matter to his father, well, who cared? Now he mattered to the world. He saved lives, actual lives, sons and daughters and mothers and fathers and when the hell did his dad ever put himself at risk in order to do that? Suck it, Howard. But then there was the Chitauri and Loki and the complete destruction of New York; a nuke and a black wormhole that almost swallowed him completely, a never ending fall that ended with a godawful crash back, not just to the ground, but to reality. It was his first time working as part of a team, where he was responsible for the safety of others like him - heroes, or so they were called - and everything changed in the aftermath of that battle. The work he done became more important than the recognition of his actions; he had to keep the world safe from threats, had to look after the rest of the team even at the expense of his own safety. They were worth saving; he was not. Sad as it is, the ones who want to protect others the most are often the ones who don’t give a damn about themselves.

\--

_**Intelligent** _

If there’s one thing that can be said for Tony Stark, amidst the self-loathing and contradicting arrogance and not-so-secret alcoholism, it’s that he is clever. Beyond clever, an engineering genius, a man with a brain so full of ideas one is barely finished before he bounces onto the next. He took an industry left to him by his late father, an industry already great and reknowned and built it up bigger and better than ever. Of course, being Tony, there was more of a theatrical feel to his work than that of Howards, but each to their own. He built himself an arc reactor that saved his life and around that created a new identity, someone strong for where he had been weak, brave where he had been scared. For all his stupid decisions and many fuck-ups, it can never be said that Tony Stark is not one of the most intelligent, brilliant-minded fuckers to ever walk this planet.


End file.
